By Abbie Ritch
The Channel were lucky enough to sit down with Tim Brown last week and discuss the upcoming Cinecity Festival. Celebrating its 20th edition this year, Cinecity is back for another year of highlighting both incredible world cinema and local film-maker’s work, connecting the global to the local.
Tim stressed the importance of going to the cinema and film festivals at a time when streaming is at an all-time high. “The shift to and success of streaming was accelerated by the pandemic, pushing cinemas into a time of struggle. People do seem to be slowly making their way back to the cinemas, which is very encouraging. The immersive, collective experience of watching a film on the big screen with strangers in the dark will never die.”
Cinecity has a fantastic programme lined up this year. From Cannes award-winning Tori & Lokita by the renowned Dardenne brothers to the Screendance Acts of Memory, showing simultaneously at The Dance Space in Brighton and the Connaught Theatre in Worthing.
There are plenty of screenings showcasing the work of local filmmakers too with Cinecity Shorts selected from local open submissions to the festival. Cinecity New Voices also presents a range of short films from local filmmakers aged 16-25.
Cinecity is dedicated to supporting young people getting into film, whether this be behind the camera, or as a programmer. n collaboration with the Screenshot, Cinecity is holding a Film Programmer’s Get Together event at Fabrica on Wednesday 23 November. A selection of guest speakers will give bitesize introductions to their work and some of their top tips for programming, there will also be time to network afterwards. You can get your free tickets here.
Are you an aspiring filmmaker? Cinecity is challenging students from the School of Media, Arts and Humanities at the University of Sussex to make a film in 36 hours! Launching on the morning of Sat 19 Nov, students will be given a prop, a location and 36 hours to make a four-minute film. There’s £1000 worth of prize money up for grabs!
There’s truly something for everyone at this Cinecity. The festival will run from Friday 11 November to Sunday 20 November. Tickets for those under 25s are just £5! As Tim himself mentioned, that's cheaper than a pint in Brighton! You can browse the full cinecity programme and get your tickets here. Spend this gloomy November taking an adventure in world cinema.
You’ll be able to read the full interview with Tim and much more in our upcoming film zine which will be published and distributed around Brighton at the end of November! Sign up to our mailing list here to be the first to hear all about it.
